"Orbiting"

I liked "Orbiting" much more than "A Wife's Story". It was a very casual read. It reminds me of two stories we read in class about what happens after you leave your parents home. The parents are trying to see what the child has made of him or herself, and in this story the father is the accuser. "You don't even own a dining table" the father states. And the narrator daughter thinks "He uses "even" a lot around me. Not just a judgment, but a comparative judgment". This echoes for the remainder of his visit.

In this story, I felt like everyone was running away from who they really were. Either that or they were in a constant state of moving or changing, "orbiting". The main character, Renata and her sister change their names. So does her brother-in-law. Names like "Vic" and "Ro" are shortened. Brent left his Amish community behind in Iowa, and Ro left Afghanistan in order to save his life. Vic also leaves Renata and states in an argument "I need help because I want to get out of Jersey?" Fleeing seems to be an underlying theme throughout the story.

One thing I didn't like was the fact that the main character kept bringing up Vic. I felt that she was disrespected by him with his leaving and his simple demanding of the car keys. But, then again, I felt that he had taught her or made her everything she owned: "Vic made them himself, and I used to think they were perfect blue jewels" and another statement exemplifies this: "Vic found the screen at a country auction in the Adirondacks" (67). So, maybe Vic had a right to just up and leave with the van? I also thought it was quite ironic that Ro had keys to the house, but Vic didn't have keys to the car and he looked like he was "ready for other commitments" (57).

Renata seems quite desperate. It's as if she always needs someone around her, and she is very dependent. Who else would call and wait for the phone to ring seventeen times? On top of that, she needs Ro to bring her a dining room table and is having a not-so-classy potluck Thanksgiving dinner. Basically, she is struggling. I find it comical yet extremely caring that she wants to help Ro by giving him the ultimate gift of citizenship through marriage, but I don't understand how she believes she will show him such an American life when she is barely living one herself.

One of two very important lines that stuck out to me from this lengthy story were: "I feel I am looking at America through the wrong end of a telescope" and "He married down, she married well. That's the family story" (66). The first line is from the thoughts of the main character. Seeing life from her lover's point of view is not the same as being an insider. She removes herself from the crowd, and places herself in the outsider position to understand where he is coming from. I think this is important, because if they ever decide to get married she would have to constantly think about ideas and opinions from multiple vantage points. The other quote also found on page 66 is one that all married people will have to eventually face. In most situations, financially someone is more well off than the other spouse. And people will always be quick to judge or say that the wealthier person "married down" while the other "married well". Two phrases I hate.

Also, Ro is very well-cultured and quite established, and Renata knows this, but it is very hard for him to show or prove this. I feel that is why he was just rambling off when they were putting the dining table together. I love the line that says "he could make monkeys out of us all, but they think he's a retard" (72), and the funny thing is that the only person truly fascinated with him besides Renata, is Franny, Brent's daughter from another woman.

Although this story lacks adequate transitions, it is full of risque language and symbolism through scars, which I enjoy.